This is a condensed history of the British safe, the development of which came about mainly as the safemaker's response to the Victorian cracksmen whose skill and ingenuity with basic handmade tools was quite admirable. By the turn of the Century, as new tools became available such as oxy-fuel cutters and power drills, so did the barrier materials and locking mechanisms improve to keep apace.

The way in which safes were, and are made, and the the tools and equipment employed by safebreakers over the last 150 years are described in the following pages. The use of explosives however are the subject of my website - peterman.org.uk